Patent application WO2007/124786A1 describes a home automation installation provided with sensors and controlled home automation equipment. Each sensor may be associated with two control scenarios, one when the measured level is below a threshold, and the other when the measured value is above that threshold.
These control scenarios are directly programmed into the electronics of the sensor. Thus, the sensor sends the actuator an order that is the code associated with the control scenario corresponding to the measurement of the present moment and the actuator that receives that order is capable of interpreting it and taking action.
This installation makes it possible to use control scenarios to control the home automation installation, but is difficult to parameterize: the installer must define, at each sensor, the measurement threshold beyond which a different control scenario is sent. This repeated manipulation requires considerable time and may also impose particular measures to protect the installer working on the installation, if the sensor is placed in an inaccessible location (at a height against a wall, for example), which is particularly detrimental if it must be manipulated several times. Furthermore, the sensors used in this installation are specific, inasmuch as they only send an order in the form of a control scenario code, or are versatile in that they can send a value or a code corresponding to the control scenario. In both cases, the cost of such sensors is high. Likewise, the controlled home automation equipment must integrate more significant means for processing the information than the traditional actuators to be able to associate a control scenario code with concrete actions.
Patent application EP2000867A1 describes how it is possible to associate a control scenario with a measurement level of a sensor. For example, a sensor and a roller shutter motor are placed in programming mode; a threshold is selected at the sensor; the roller shutter is placed in a given position by setting the motor in motion; communication is established between the two in order to associate that measurement level with the position of the motor.
Here again, the matching phase may be delicate and require particular protection measures for people working on the installation, since the sensor may be in an area that is difficult to access. Likewise, the installation procedure may be tedious, as it is necessary to perform this operation for each sensor and each actuator to be associated. The size of the installation is then limited or very expensive.